


After the End

by DrChickenSlinger



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, GaaLee, LeeGaa, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 08:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrChickenSlinger/pseuds/DrChickenSlinger
Summary: The bright fluorescent lights filled the room, a faint but steady beeping heard within. The strong antiseptic filled Lee’s nose, a sickeningly familiar smell. Only this time it wasn’t him in the hospital.It was Gaara.





	After the End

The bright fluorescent lights filled the room, a faint but steady beeping heard within. The strong antiseptic filled Lee’s nose, a sickeningly familiar smell. Only this time it wasn’t him in the hospital. 

It was Gaara. 

Lee wished more than anything that it was him laying in the hospital bed, no matter how much pain he was in. Pain was his old friend, something he was comfortable with. But not this kind of pain. Not the creeping knowledge that the one you love more than anyone else in the world is lying there dying, especially knowing that there wasn’t anything anyone could do. 

He had collapsed earlier in the week, for reasons no one could figure out. The most elite medical ninja in Suna had been scrambling, poking Gaara and drawing blood, trying different type of jutsus and herbal concoctions to heal him. Lee quickly grew tired of it, knowing that nothing was helping and that it was worsening his condition. 

They had sent a report to Tsunade requesting her assistance. She had arrived quickly and had diagnosed him almost immediately. The after effects of the massive amounts of chakra in his system from Shukaku had reversed, attacking his body instead of helping to heal it, even though the demon was no longer inside of him. His organs were slowly failing, even though he had just barely turned 27. 

Lee blinked his eyes tiredly as he clutched Gaara’s hand. They were red and raw from constant sobbing. Even now, tears continued to flow. His lips had chapped and his eyes were sunken in, evidence of his dehydration and exhaustion. The doctors had done all they could to get him to rest, even just drink some water. But Lee had refused. He didn’t want to put his own needs first, not when Gaara couldn’t stay awake for longer than ten minutes at a time nor had the strength to push himself up to eat. No, Lee wouldn’t let Gaara suffer alone. 

Lee stared down at the white bedsheet, the brightness of them contrasting against Gaara’s skin. He was darker without his sand armor, more like a child of the desert ought to look. Lee loved to see it, the rich tone gorgeously bringing out his eyes and the deep color of his hair. But now it just reminded him that he was seeing it because Gaara was sick. Tears stained his bed as Lee lowered his head, settling into another agony filled sob. 

“L-Lee?” came a mumbled voice, coughing slightly as it croaked. 

“Gaara!” Lee said, snapping out of his cry and pressing into his space. “Gaara, I love you, please stay with me. I will get a doctor.”

As he stood, Gaara’s weak hand held his, gentle but firm. “Lee, I’m going to die. Please stay with me.”

“NO! Do not say that! You are the strongest person I know, I-“

“Lee, please,” Gaara whispered, tears beginning to run down his cheeks, “It’s time. Please let me spend the moments I have left with you.”

Lee’s lips pressed into a tight line, wanting to do what he could to help Gaara. He accepted the inevitable, crawling into bed next to Gaara to hold him as he would if they were in their bed at home. No tubes, no fluorescent lights. He gripped Gaara’s hand in both of his, gently brushing it against his lips, wetting it with the drops flowing from his eyes. 

“Lee, I-I’m sorry,” Gaara said, labored, raspy breaths breaking each sentence, “I don’t want to leave so soon. I want to stay with you. Thank you for loving me so much. Thank you for showing me how to love you.”

Gaara’s breathing became lighter and quicker, the heart monitor’s noise quickening as his heart rate dropped. 

“Gaara, no, please, I can’t do this alone,” Lee sobbed, picking his head up and cradling it gently. He bent to give him a kiss, but was only met with quaking fingers. The sand that had been sitting on the floor in Gaara’s gourd buzzed uselessly around the bed, not knowing what to do to help Gaara. 

“No, Lee, please don’t kiss me. I don’t want you to remember me like this. Remember me how it was when we first kissed, when it was raining in Konoha. You looked so beautiful… you were...smiling,”

Gaara’s head fell back into Lee’s arms, breathing having stopped and the heart monitor flatlining. Lee jumped out of bed, pressing his hands into Gaara’s sternum in an attempt to restart the heart he had loved so completely. His ribs cracked as they broke, the sickening sound filling the silence where Gaara’s voice should have been. But it was no use. Lee pumped and pumped, vision obscured by his tears as he did all he could to bring his love back. The sand wailed, crashing into the bed at the loss of the one it was supposed to protect. 

He was ripped away from his husband by a doctor, screaming in agony and doing his best to not push her away. He collapsed against the far wall, the sand cushioning his fall as he slid to the ground. Temari and Kankuro rushed in soon after, sobbing and mourning the loss of the little brother they had just gotten back. 

Lee stayed with them that night. Kankuro did his best to be the strongest out of the three, the only emotion he showed once they had gotten home was a fist slamming into the nearest wall. But the sand had stopped it before he could make contact, flying out of the gourd that Lee now carried. They slept in the living room, each tossing and turning as they dreamt of the Kazekage they had lost. 

In Lee’s dream, the gourd he was holding had transformed into an effigy of Gaara. It hugged him, the grainy texture brushing his skin and reminding him of the sand armor. It placed it’s hand over his heart, brushed a lock of hair behind his ear, and collapsed back into the gourd it had been before. Lee woke up crying, clutching it in his arms where Gaara should have been. 

After the funeral, Temari took position as Kazekage. Life began again, though this time they were living with huge holes in their hearts. Lee kept the gourd with him always, a grim reminder of the husband he had loved and, in his eyes, had failed to protect. Even though he couldn’t use ninjutsu, the sand still seemed to have an automatic reaction to him, saving him when he stumbled or curling around him when he sobbed each night. 

Gaara had promised to always protect him and he had kept his word, even in death.


End file.
